Dance Techniques 2010

250 Understanding the Body / Movement
Yvonne Hardt, Vera Sander
Understanding
the Body / Movement
Prerequisites
Muller teaches primarily to professionals, seldom to beginners
or children; i.e., dancers coming to her have previous
training. Muller views every dance foundation as
equal. Even though her exercises, in part, are based on
a classical movement vocabulary, dancers do not need
previous ballet training. She finds, also, there are many
excellent contemporary training methods. Ideally dancers
begin training at an early age—it is unusual for anyone, in
her opinion, to start at twenty-one years or older and still
become a professional dancer (although there seems to be
exceptions for men).
Because Muller’s is an intensive training program and
her approach holistic, complementary training is not offered.
She does encourage dancers to further their studies,
and she practices Qigong on a daily basis. Ultimately, any
practice that is geared towards supporting a flow of energy
and transparency of energy, or that heightens awareness
of body structure (as it applies to Muller’s technique), can
complement the training.
In terms of the ‘ideal body’, Muller is open and embraces
differences. She points out that dancers in her company
come in all shapes and sizes. What she does desire,
however, is that dancers attain an ideally sculpted body.
Rounded muscular forms that denote strength, especially
in the upper thighs, should be transformed and lengthened.
A distinct mental attitude is as important as physical
skills when learning the Muller Technique. This includes
the willingness to engage in a philosophy that understands
dance as a play between different flows of energy and sees
the dance as a continual waxing and waning, not just a
measurable, optimizable feat that is characterized by the
expenditure of strength, muscle tension, and control. Becoming
fully involved with this idea and the artistic vision
behind it, to share this vision and to make it one’s
own—these are basic requirements that Muller contends
are fundamental for working with her company. This attitude,
paired with openness, is what Muller believes is
the exact opposite to a dancer who simply wants to do his
or her ‘job’. For Muller, a dancer’s engagement with her
movement concepts is more important than any previous
training.
In this comfortable environment—Muller often speaks
of her ‘family’—learning is not about looking for mistakes,
rather about developing strategies to achieve more
transparency, and focused on developing an awareness for
movement that makes it more efficient and guards against
injury. Muller understands her holistic approach to be
one that trains life forces, and thus inherently protects the
body.
Movement Characteristics
and Physicality
In the Muller Technique, all body parts are trained sequentially.
One exercise builds on the next, and there is
progression from smaller movements and to bigger ones.
Energy and the flow of energy initiate all movement, and
generate movement material that can be described in
terms of polarity, namely up or down. For the most part,
the class takes place in standing (vertical alignment), and
is characterized by abandoning and recovering vertical
alignment.
While a third of the class material is reminiscent of ballet
and / or directly derived from it, the exercises have been
fundamentally changed by Muller’s energy–work. Instead
of creating a movement vocabulary for her technique, she
draws on the established forms (and the intrinsic knowledge
therein), using and transforming the exercises and the
style.
Since the primary goal, as described above, is to train
an articulate body (one that is transparent to energy), and
to nurture body–part awareness, the first part of class
employs simple movement and includes mental exercises:
Meditative work encourages greater awareness of the
body and directs the focus to various body parts. This is
followed by demi-pliés and torso bends, as well as supportive
arm movement, which assist in better sensing and
easier execution of the ebb and flow of energy.
For the middle part of the training, Muller uses classical
exercises (and their terminology) at the barre: plié, tendu,
relevé, jeté, etc. The material, however, is transformed
through her energy–work and by the way she combines
it, for instance, with specific arm sequences that promote
a clearer understanding of the flow of energy. Leg–work is
an important part of the Muller Technique and is one of
17 See “Principles of Movement” in this
section.
18 See also “Concept and Ideology”, keyword
‘Qualities’, as well as this section, keyword
‘Principles of Movement’.